Sewer King's Carol
by Zaunite Koopa
Summary: Tired of living together, Twitch and ZAC ultimately make grave decisions that would change their lives forever. On the night of Snowdown's eve, they reflect on their own lives and see what could happen following their choices. Whether those consequences become reality depends on how the two would be judged. (After Specters of the Sewers)
1. Twitch's Harrowing

**ZAC:** Hey.. Twitch. You don't mind if I sneak into a harrowing party on the surface right?

 **Twitch:** What? No! No No No! The surface dwellers will take you for sure!

 **ZAC:** But.. it gets pretty lonely down here. Harrowing's the few times when I could go out there. Just lower the height a bit.. shape my features.. and I'm good!

 **Twitch:** That's what they all say... Besides! Twitch could make this "Harrowing Party"! Probably even better than they could. We have enough subjects for one hehe..

 **ZAC:** Twitch... Buddy.. I don't want to dance with bugs.

 **Twitch:** Don't call them that! My roachmen have feelings you know! Besides.. You don't need the surface. Look where that got you.

 **ZAC:** ...

 **Twitch:** I'll rule the surface one day, but it will take time.. I'll get my army eventually.. But now! You should learn to stay away. Let me prove to you you don't need those stupid humans! Now.. what else does this "Harrowing Party" have? Outside of these.. weird, glaring pumpkin faces you put around my lair.. They won't jump right?

 **ZAC:** No.. They don't jump. (Sighs) Well.. you do need a costume.

 **Twitch:** Huh?

* * *

 **Twitch:** Goopy One! There you are... A certain slave has told me that you're onto something.. Speak! Your king demands it! I know you're betraying me to the humans.. I know it!

 **ZAC:** Oh really..? Huh. Is that why you've been stalking me the whole day?

 **Twitch:** Uh.. Yes! A king must be sure!

 **ZAC:** Well... I haven't been conspiring or anything, but its definitely a surprise! I thin-

 **Twitch:** So what is this surprise!? If its trying to find a way out of MY Harrowing party for the surface...

 **ZAC:** No I won't! It's just.. Think of it as tribute pal.

 **Twitch:** ...better be good...

(Takes off tarp to unveil a very messy Ziggs costume)

 **ZAC:** Ta-da! Since you're making a party, you're gonna need a costume. I made it out of some cloth I found near the commercias. Isn't it great! I worked hard on the big bomb on the back.

(Twitch sniffs costume)

 **Twitch:** Hm... Guess I do need a costume for this.. 'Harrowing' holiday.. Not perfect, Could use some sludge. How about shoving some poisons in that bomb... I want it to have my stench.. Glad you're staying. Less time you're out there, the better!

 **ZAC:** Hey! Not sure how that will work out, pal. Let's not do anything sketchy yet.. It's pretty frail, and no problem! I don't want to ditch my friend's first Harrowing party.

(ZAC looks up as he hears the preparation of the Harrowing fireworks for Harrowing above them. It's always fun to see those... and the celebration.. and the atmosphere..)

 **Twitch:** Oh! They're preparing bombs again for MY sewers? Hehe.. They never learn! (Raises crossbow)

 **ZAC:** Twitch no!

* * *

 **Twitch:** Goopy One! Where were you!? You're late to MY party! The bell rang a lot while you're gone.. Did you go to the surface...? HM!?

 **ZAC:** Uh... No.. I just.. I just wanted to make sure that people were doing fine up there.. Yeah! Making sure they don't invade..

 **Twitch:** Hmph! Twitch can smell a liar.. SMELL IT! And what's that in your body HMMM? Let me see!

(Twitch quickly jumps into ZAC's body and takes out a bag of candy from him)

 **Twitch:** Bleagh! 'Candy'? Why... would you bring.. THIS FILTH! Its poison I tell you!

(Twitch glares at ZAC before throwing the bag at him)

 **Twitch:** FINE! Be friends with the stupid humans.. The ones that tried to take our homes and exterminate us! The ones that killed your creators! Might as well go to the one called 'Takeda' and be his slave since you wanted it so badly!

 **ZAC (Angrily):** Oh! And being your slave is so much better, right pal!?

(Silence)

 **ZAC:** Look... How about we just enjoy this party as it is.. It's supposed to be a happy day buddy. I just got carried away up there.. Let's just celebrate it. You worked hard on this, haven't you? This nice party?

 **Twitch:** Twitch only celebrates with his true subjects..

(Twitch leaves the pipe room with his Ziggs helmet, leaving the party behind him)


	2. The Surface Spy

I cramped as I began to move around in my new bed. I stretch my green limbs vigorously, trying to somehow release the ache created by the cinder blocks and concrete I now lay. At least Twitch gave me one trash bag as a blanket. I think he still likes me. Doesn't he? I don't know. Every time I go in there it always seemed so dark and cold. I should at least tell him where I'm going. Wouldn't want him to get angry for "sneaking up to the surface" again. As I begin to march to the plague rat's lair to tell him my plans for the day, I hear the cracking of glass and the spilling of fluids. Cackling echoed through the halls. I run, trying to see what was going on. I could only imagine what happened while I was gone. Did Twitch go crazy again? Did someone get in, and now he was violently torturing someone? Please let it be something harmless. As I ran, the cackles quickly devolved into groans of disappointment and anger. I arrive at the opening of a large pipe, covered by a tarp, showcasing his hunched figure. I grab the end of the tarp and as I lifted it up...

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Twitch shouted as he sees the tarp move with the large shadow behind it. "Stay out! Only Twitch and his true subjects allowed to enter!" Twitch slowly went out of the tarp. His hands were wet with glass and his face filled with frustration. He glares at me, annoyed to deal with me. "Grrr.. What do you want!? Twitch is busy conducting his experiments... He doesn't need you bothering!"

"I.. I just want to tell you I'm going out to spy on the surface. Y'know! Make sure that they don't invade and whatnot."  
"Sure.. sure.." Twitch growled resentfully. "Do you wish to play with our invaders as well? Make little surface presents for them?"

"Twitch.. It's not like that..." I pause, trying to find the right words. I was never good with saying things. Especially to Twitch. "Look.. I'm sorry about the Harrowing Party bud. It was just so happy... and nice up there.. There was candy and everything! I.. I just couldn't resist!"

"Then you wouldn't resist leading them down here too, wouldn't you!?" Twitch shouted angrily. "I hear them every night.. They'll come because of YOU, Goopy One! I know it! They steal.. they lie.. they exterminate! But they host their great parties, AND YOU'LL FOLLOW THEM!"

"It's not like that, okay!?" I shout. "It won't be like that. I'll just make sure that things are doing okay up here. Not going in the sewers and whatnot. Does that sound okay? How many times I gotta say it Twitch, I'm sorry for that party."

"Hmph! Just do me a favor and don't meddle in their stupid affairs. If they kill themselves, let them. Twitch doesn't want invaders tracking you down! That's how _they_ died you know.. And I'll be watching.. Twitch knows all." As Twitch began to go back in his tarp, I abruptly grab his arm, wanting something more. Something that was lacking since the Harrowing. He jerked his head at me, as if attacked. I looked over his shoulder to see the apparatus behind the tarp. A flask with a rat's tail sticking out. I couldn't see its body from the concentration of the liquid.

"Hey.. So these experiments.. Been up all night for those?"

Twitch didn't respond. He fought against my grip and resumed his attempts for sentience underneath the tarp. "So much for asking," I sigh. I slowly trudge away from the tarp, looking back to catch to make out the noises I hear. As I went up the sewer system, I hear the results of his sentience projects as his friend continued his cries of disappointment and anger. I imagine the flesh of the rat in his hands, melting as it soon melted to reveal bone. Just another one in the pile, one that long existed before I came in.

* * *

I decide to look at the sector directly above the core of the sewers. It was an old one. One to be one of the original sectors that end up forming Zaun. The original zaunite clock tower stood tall, looming above the central plaza of migrant workers and inventors, itching to make a living out of themselves, but most felt lucky the year was almost coming to a close. Happy to see family again as the holidays come closer and closer. Lights were already strewn in the city and I see children in the sump decorating their houses and fireplaces. Some were even getting their gifts early in advance. I feel the same energy that always characterized the Snowdown season with mom and dad. I would always make a homemade present for them. A homemade toy car for dad. A pipe instrument for mom that didn't even work. I would even sneak some fresh foreign ingredients out from the Cultivairs of chem-barons. Heh. Oh how they hated that back then. I miss those days.

As I grow delighted in this view of Zaun, I begin to realize I should get some gifts for the Snowdown holiday. Snowdown is always about giving, and it always feel nice to make someone's life better. Maybe I can make some toys or something for some children. Maybe I can be like Santa Claus, just barging into buildings through the pipes and chimney, sharing happiness to all! Oh, how nice would that be? Oh, how great would that be? Their smiles wide and they bounce eagerly to see their gifts... Just imagining it makes me smile with glee as if I was the lucky boy or girl. It was just the issue of getting and making the toys.

I decide to look in the dumpster. There was always great materials. Steel and pipes for horns... Metal for some figurines.. You could even find actual toy helicopters if you looked deep enough. I grab a trash bag and begin to fill it up with the materials to make my treasure. As I did, I begin hopping around, singing a Snowdown tune to get in the mood. I imagine myself jumping to escape and sneaking through cracks of the house. No one was here and will ever be here, and I got some of my sentries nearby, so why should I worry?

As I search, I hear the sound of help being called. A shriek piercing through the skies as something vile happens to her. I place the bag by a large pile of rubble and made my way there. I can't let those guys get away. After I sling myself to the top of a rooftop, a roach got on the bag and begin looked inside with the others that came after. When I came back after a good hour of chasing and catching, the bag was gone and in its place, a bronze, rusty arrow with a poison patch as an arrow head. I picked it up, observing it carefully and tensely. My hands shakes as I hold it, feeling a weight being pressed on me.

I hear the rustling of footsteps behind me and the slight sound of conversation between a couple of children looking for ways to make their homemade goods as well. I place the arrow with my other belongings, step back and went down into the safety of the sewers' shadows, never to be seen.


	3. Slavery

I slowly walk the dark quiet caverns of the sewers, hearing the sewage drip solemnly on the concrete from the rusty pipes. Its sound bounce off the tunnels' walls. Drip. Drip. Drip. As I made every step, I think about the bag Twitch stole. What he would do to it? What lie would I make up this time? Twitch was easy to trick, but he was one who can be affected by a lie so easily, taking it to such loud and troublesome extremes. I remember when I lied about the superheroes I have being the surface greatest protectors. He saw this as a way to make these weird strategies of somehow finding ways to poison all of them and testing all of his weapons. He almost got smashed by a boulder before I had to tell him. In fact, all of this seems to be a lie. A lie that I will somehow never stop telling. First I was his homemade subject and now I am his spy that spies on the surface. My parents always told me that lying was wrong. Why can't it be so easy..

As I walked deeper and deeper, the lights grow dim and the humidity began to hit. Contaminated water slush out from the pipes, masking any surrounding sound that could occur. Something hit me in that very moment. A feeling of dread, death, and desperation as if everything went dark. Darker than usual. No one was there.. I follow my instincts trying to find its source, but it already seems like I already knew what it is. It is deeper in the sewers. Deeper where all of the pipes release their waste. I run and run, only hearing the water gush and gush as I could only imagine the cold skin and lifeless eyes. "Hello!? Anyone there!?" I shout on the top of my lungs.

"O...Over here.." someone mutters meekly.

I ran to his aid, only to see what had happen. Teens were strewn around the area, blood dripped everywhere. It seemed like only 3 people, but there could be people that he kicked into the waters, their bodies lost forever, giving their parents more to grieve over. I looked around. "Hello!? Where are yo-"

I look down and I see a teen looking at me. He had brown hair and dark skin. He clutched his chest where I could see a gold arrow sticking out, the same contained in my chest. I bent down to heal his wounds, but he scrambled away.

"Stay back!" he shouted at the massive creature with yellow eyes and an antenna . "Stay back! Get me out of here.. I'm tired of all of this monster crap! Tired of it!"

I still stretch my arm slowly to approach, but as my hand grows closer and closer to his still beating hear, he throws a knife at me, aiming for my head but getting my shoulder instead. I barely flinched as he was still breathing.

"Get away.. Get.. Away... You.. your buddy.. Monster buddy.. He killed my friends.. Stay.." he could barely speak. His eyes filled with tears.

"Look.. I.. I don't who you're talking about.. A slimy guy like me wouldn't have that many friends. I just want you to be safe.. I'm sorry fo-"

Swish!

The arrow hit the person's head and he begins to utter his final breath. I look to the killer who stares at the body with contempt. "Goopy One! What are you doing here.." Twitch hisses.

"What.. what were you doing!?" I shout.

"They invaded the my domain! The surface dwellers get what they deserve," Twitch explained, approaching the body and began looting it. Overwhelmed with anger, I jumped on him. How dare he killed these people. They were just dumb. They didn't mean to invade or anything! Now he was stealing their stuff and throw them out like trash..

Twitch quickly sidesteps and pointed the arrow at me. "How.. How dare you do that to your king!" Twitch shouts. "Grrr... Go back to the lair.. I command you! Or else... One move forward and I shoot."

I slowly step back. Twitch's poison can get quite troublesome, and I know how fast he can fire. He seemed so far away... I walk further and further away. I can no longer see the boy's body nor Twitch's disrespectful looting. I couldn't even hear the splash after he kicks the body into the water.

* * *

I stomp furiously to the tunnels, trying to make it to my lair. I grow angry at the very thought. The Goopy One!? Jumping on me!? I was justified in doing the deed.. He may like the surface dwellers, but I can see through their lies and tricks. I can see through their costumes and illusions. They want to exterminate us and steal from us! How long would it take for the Goopy One to notice that..? I know, or, at least, I hoped that the Goopy One wasn't on their side. It was just the fact that he's so dumb. His parents brainwashed him.. I know it! Even if they were nicer than most humans.. Then there goes the bag of metal pipes. The roaches tell me it wasn't for me, nor is it for the benefit of my kingdom. What could it possibly be...

I arrive at the lair with the Goopy One sitting in front of the pipe with the tarp, visibly angered. I stare at him, trying to choose my words wisely. He was still a subject after all. One that helped me. It was just his obsession of our enemies that angered me. They killed his creators and they still have the gall to hunt him, and, in turn, me, down. A king must do something for his subjects. "I had to kill them.. Twitch couldn't take any chances.." I growl.

"You didn't have to!" he shouts back. "They were just dumb teens. Dumb gang members trying to take a dare or something! And you killed them! You told me you would try to restrain from killing!"

"And you told me you would be watching them, but they were close to my lair.. They would've seen us.. and you weren't there! Tell me.. what were you doing with that bag.." Twitch went to the other side of the tarp and brought out a bag of metal pipes and old toys. "What were you planning, Goopy One..? Tell me.. The roaches say that this wasn't for the kingdom."

"You _spied_ on me!?"

"And it seemed like I had a good reason! What were you planning!? And don't lie. No more games! I could use this as rust. Twitch needed more rust."

"Ok! Ok! Stop!" ZAC shout. "I was.. I was.. I was gonna make some toys for the people up there.."

"Toys!? As in.. play-things!? And you were just going to give it to them?"

"I.. Not exactly pal! I was just thinking of giving for the Snowdown season. I just want to lighten up their day."

"And get caught.. or kidnapped! You can't be this stupid.. That's it!" Twitch threw the bag behind the tarp. "No going out to the surface! No going on that day! Did you ever wondered why your creators died.."

"Yeah.. Because I saved you! I saved you in some stupid incident and I paid for it!"

"No! Twitch thinks that they found you all this time.. They just needed more confirmation. You were going out to them! You are showing yourself to them! You will be caught by them.. I know it! That's what they want you to do Goopy One.. Don't you see!? Twitch is getting a bag of rust, and that's final!"

"No! I've had it! I'm not dealing with you anymore!"

As I walk towards my lair, I felt a large bump to the back of my head. I tried to get up, but the pain was too much. My vision blurs. I could only hear the tarp coming off and the Goopy One's footsteps echoing in the distance with the bag shuffling as he moved. I begin to black out. His voice echoing loudly. "I'm not dealing with you anymore.. I'm not dealing with you anymore.." Chains begin to form where I stand. I could only squirm as I hear the voice trailing off in the distance.

"Come back!" I shout, but eventually the voice disappeared. I look at the chains and try to gnaw them as best as I can, but they seemed unbreakable.

"It's your turn now.." they echo behind me. "It's your turn to be like us.. To feel our pain.." Suddenly the blue hands came up from the floor. The grow to arms and eventually decayed bodies with the same chains I wore and with the faces of those whose lives I've taken. They whirled around me. "You'll be judged. You'll finally pay. You'll be judged this Snowdown's day.." They went faster and faster. The ghosts suddenly turn to more chains and all of them dragging me down to the floor to their graves. I smash against the floor with no hope of getting up. I gasp for air under the pressure.. I try to fight back, but it was too much. It kept building and building on top of my body. On top of my head until finally... I woke up, feeling my body ache like never before.

I look down at the sewage with fear of the graves I put down. I step back into the lair, desiring comfort. "Goopy One!? Goopy One!?" I shout. I look to the tunnels around the lair, but he isn't there. He disappeared with the bag of toys he holds as well as his belongings. The comic books he held so dearly were gone. His figurines were gone. As were his blueprints.. I shudder at their absence, assuming the worst. I went to the roaches that sit in the cracks, watching my suffering. "You! Find him! Now!" I commanded. "And tell me when you do! I'm keeping him here.. He'll be caught by the one called Takeda.. He'll be killed by those surface dwellers! He won't listen to me... He never listens! I'm keeping him here in my sewers... Mark my words! Mark Twitch's decree!" I go to my lair, grab my crossbow, and a large cask, large enough to be a home for my subject. "I'll find him.. I'll keep him here.."


	4. First Ghost Part 1 - Lonely Sentience

The bell rings late. Its sound echoing from the tunnels as I scurry and scurry, knowing very well that my time could end easily. Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong. The 22nd hour approaches. The roaches told me that they saw The Goopy One here, and my roaches never lied, but he was nowhere to be found. I looked and looked and looked, but nothing! No clues! No nearby familiar human places! No nothing! I have to get him back, lest I want my subject to be abused and exterminated.

Ding. Dong. The 23rd hour approaches. I stop looking at the accursed location my roaches left me and started looking at the places the Goopy One liked to go to. I can't remember their names, but I remember them being obnoxious. How could one ever find watching humans walking and talking important in any way? They served no purpose against my kingdom nor do they seem to be part of Takeda's secret plans of blowing up the sewers (I KNOW it will happen! I KNOW IT!). I stop at the manhole to one of the locations. I go up the latter, slowly cloaking myself so I won't be seen. When the lid pops out, I see everything dark. Very few lights come out of the glass windows and soot filled the air as everyone burned their furnaces for the winter. I can make out random poro sculptures on buildings and streams of fake green plant life around the lampposts. I see the name of the location: _Skylight Commercia_.

I reveal myself, feeling comforted by the dense ashy fog and the lack of light. I try to remember the places that The Goopy One liked to go to. It was usually ones with food. He watching people eat and talk about their day. He never stops blabbering about that, but where were these food places? I walk around, trying to find a map. The roads feel cold to my paw and every store I see seemed to have a cage behind their doors. It was so much different than the way The Goopy One described it. He described it as a happy place, one where a person can enjoy all of the great things of the surface dweller city above my kingdom, but it just seems like an empty husk. Then again, I shouldn't be complaining. Less humans to deal with, the better.

Suddenly, the black fog grows darker and darker, to such a point where I couldn't see the buildings anymore. I couldn't see the lamppost or the Snowdown decorations. I could barely see my own hands. As I trudged further for some order, I see a small yellow light in the distance, so awfully bright that I had to squint to make it out. A gentle voice called.

"I see you.." he said. "I see you walking.. Come! Come closer!"

I immediately grab my crossbow and fired at the creature in front of me.

"That's no way to treat an old saint.." he said, disappointed. "You seem lost, little one. Maybe I could help you this Snowdown's Eve. Help you find your way.."

I wanted to leave right then and there. I don't have time to deal with some stu-

I feel something metal grab at my leg. Something cold and forceful. Wanting to drag me down to the sewers. I feel the chains through my fingers as I run through them, and wondered when they would cover me from head to toe. When I walked away, the grip becomes stronger. When I went towards the light, it became looser. I cautiously walk to the old saint, covering its glare with my clawed hand. Eventually I saw a shadow of a floating man with something circular behind his back. I march on, finally seeing the creature for what he is: an old white bearded human in red robes with a colorful clock behind his back. He floats in the air as he grins at the rat.

"Ah... I've always wanted to take a look at you, Plague Rat."

My breathing quickened. "Are... are you judging me..." I squeak. He simply lends a hand in response, keeping his warm, creepy grin.

"Come! Before the hour goes." My hands shake as I lift it up from my body, and held the hand of the sprit. The dark fog whirls around me violently as the clock behind the saint's back begins to spin backwards and backwards and... stop! The clock stops with the hour hand at 11 and the fog begins to dissipates as the light emanating from the clock grows brighter and brighter. I hear the water rushing in the background and the familiar wet and sticky floor. I sniff the sludge in the air. It wasn't just the sewers, it was MY sector.

"Sprit? Why did you bring me he-?"

Suddenly, I'm interrupted by the kids that dare wander into my lair. That dare invade. They laugh as if it was some kind of joke. Usually the Goopy One was there to keep them in check, but he wasn't with me anymore. I raise my crossbow to fire only to see the body go down immediately. I never pulled the trigger, yet I see the arrow in the chest all the same. I hear my mad cackling as I see another plague rat in a green coat running to loot the corpse. Another plague rat? I run up to him, with so many questions, only to completely phase through and fall to the ground. I see his maniacal face. His pinks staring down at the body, and his incessant desire to steal from another. His hands plunges into the clothes and flesh, hungry for something to claim. I jump back in reaction, beginning to realize that this was me.

"Saint! Judger! What am I doing here..? Why am I here!? I have someone to find!" I said, angry at the mockery.

"We're in your past, Plague Rat. Of things that came. What did that poor soul ever deserved?" the old saint said, looking over the body.

"He.. he was invading! I knew it!"

"But did he really?"

"Yes!"

"How could you know?"

"Because he's a human! They always invade.. Always trying to exterminate me!"

Suddenly, my past version runs away, kicking the body into the water before he did so. I watched as it sinks into the bottom, never to be heard nor seen again.

"Plague rat.. I've seen countless sprits. You may have seen only a minority, but I've seen many. All of them are capable of murder and invasion, but not all of them do. Even _you_ are capable."

"What are you saying..?"

"Come let's follow."

I follow the saint quickly, following my past self to the old lair. My old magnificent lair. I remember how the waters flow. How the chambers were gigantic, but as I enter, I see the glass shards and the decayed rat body at my foot.

"This one.." my past self shouts. "This is the ingredient they stole from me! This time I know this will work!" I see my past self cackle. He takes his hand and brings up a rat before the potion. He dips it into the acid. Suddenly, the rat's heinous screech echoed into my ears, never like before. He screamed in the water, never to be heard except me. He squirmed in my grip before laying limp. It wasn't long before this rat joined the rotten brethren at the foot of the door and my past self screaming in anger, pain, sadness, and frustration. I flinch at the my old weeping, knowing very well of how he feels, but I remember feeling the lesser rat's screams. I never heard it.. It has to be the sprit's doing, but it felt so real... So scared.. As if it was my own..

"And you say you're not like them?" he says behind me.

"This.. this is different okay!?" I shout back. "I just wanted a subject.. Someone like me! Subjects are sometimes sacrificed for the sake of MY kingdom. I'm not like them! They.. they want to exterminate me! They wanted to sabotage me!"

"But you kill so many lives.. That was not the only corpse.." he said, pointing to the rat bones of many. As I looked, I hear a faint noise from above. A dripping leak most likely, but that's not what I saw myself do. I saw my wretched face as it begins to twist and turn to something sinister. Something broken. He begins to cackle silently before going invisible, leaving me and the sprit with my victims.

I look back at the decayed corpse as it still twitches. "They were just potential subjects, sprit. Twitch needed someone.." The rat tore his sight away from the dead, imagining the screams once more. Screams that he identified as his own. Screams that he never considered in his grief. "Anyone.."

The saint levitated towards me and showed his hand.

"We're still not done.. You'll be surprised with what we give you.."

I grab the hand of the old saint and we disappeared before the my past self came back with another ingredient in his hand.


	5. First Ghost Part 2 - Superhero Identity

I was young when they told me. Maybe around 10 or 11 years old. I remember sitting on the bed awaiting Mom's bedtime story for the night. The one on Snowdown eve was always a special one about the holidays. Maybe it would be another one of the poro king's exploits or maybe the tales of the many incarnations of Santa, or would it be one of the quirky elves that worked in his workshop.

Suddenly my Mom comes in, smiling at me, but with the smile I expect. It was rather melancholy for her. Her eyes grew old with stress and her wrinkles were more apparent. It almost seemed that it hurt to shape her lips, but she always did for me back then. "Was work hard today, Mom?" I asked.

"Oh... Kinda grueling if you asked me, but nothing I can't handle," she replied back in a sweet voice. In her hand she held a book that different from the ones that consist of the previous Snowdown tales. Instead of being a big green book with the Snowdown king grinning happily on the cover in gold lining, it was a small one with a very graphic picture of a man with goggles and a black-green jumpsuit flying towards the air as the title bolds his name in large, black letters: Atomic-Man.

"Whoa.. Is that the story you're gonna tell?" I ask, gazing at the detailed cover.

"Yeah.. I thought it's time we do something different, don't you think?" she sat down on the bed with me and opened the book, showcasing the visual assortment of boxes and drawings. "It even has pictures for you too! I know you'll love this one." She looked down at the first page and began to describe what was happening as I scan the images. "One day, there was a man named Wade Wilson. He was a man that wanted to fight for his city and fight for what's right! So much so that he wanted to go join the army to protect his family."

"Whoa.." I said looking at the soldier waiting in line. "Would I be a good soldier?"

"I bet you would be amazing. Now.. he joined the army when he was 22 and worked hard on his training," she flipped the page. "But then... the army wanted to try something out on him. You see ZAC, they wanted to create a super soldier." She pointed to the numerous blueprints of what seems to be a man with severe augmentation. On the side were lab equipment that I was far too familiar with, so much so that I shivered at the mere sight of them. "They wanted a soldier to be augmented to control the toxins and poison around him. To do this, they created project Bioforge, asking for volunteers to be sacrificed in the name of their city." She flipped the page again, and the series of pictures showed a man being tortured as he was strapped to a table. I closed my eyes and only felt the reassuring pat of my mother.

"Eventually Wade was called to be one of those soldiers and they did so much to him.. I'll tell you when to open your eyes. Heh. They would do all these nasty things.. poking.. ripping body parts off.. putting these nasty needles.." she said while poking my gelatinous form. I slightly jump at the touch of her fingernails. "Mom! Stop!"

"Hehe.. What happened to my big grown adult?" I said nothing to that. "Well.. Luckily, unlike all of the others, Wade made it out alive, but all the more angry. He wanted to escape the pain so much that he pushed through all of the scientists and left the building." She pointed to an image of a shadow jumping off the window.

"When he landed.. he got up immediately and looked at the building he was once in and ran away, knowing the suffering. He went immediately to his home, but when he opened the door, his family no longer saw him as their own, but rather as an augmented monster.." she said as she points to a hideously disfigured face with an augmented back and vials of poison strapped to him looking at his family in confusion as they all screamed. In the next panel, he was sitting all alone by the house he used to live.

"This.. This is so sad.." I murmur. "Why.. show me this?"

"Hey.. It's not over. Do you think that he would let this pull him down? Wade was many things and of those things he was always optimistic. He felt like he should give up. He felt scared of what he has become, but that never changed how he saw the world, how he saw the good in people, and how he saw what could be fixed. He got up and didn't sulk, but start on his ways to reveal project Bioforge to the world. He infiltrated the building he was once tortured in and began to use his newfound powers of chemical manipulation to free those that would've suffered as he did and show those who wanted to use those poor men justice." I gazed at Atomic Man's glory as he fought back with the evil scientists and villains.

"Whoa..." I mumble.

"He took on the name 'Atomic Man' and after every rescue, he began to reveal Project Bioforge's true colors, to the point where the city couldn't fund the project anymore. Those scientists can't experiment on people anymore, but that's not the best thing! The best thing was that Atomic Man was no longer seen as the monster by his family and friends, but rather as the hero that he wanted to be." I looked at the final picture: his family hugging him closely, repeating the words "I'm sorry".

"Wow... That's so cool! I'm glad for him!" I said, smiling up at my mom.

"I'm glad for him too.." She paused before starting her next sentence. "Do you know who he reminds me of?"

"You?" I asked. She looked surprised at this when I said it. "I mean.. you saved me, didn't you, like Atomic Man! I think you're even better, honestly. Heh."

"Well... I guess I am a hero in my own right, but I think he reminds me more of you.." She got off the bed and stood up on the floor. "I've been meaning to tell you this for quite some time now. You.. remember when you wanted to make another you. A brother?"

"I.. I said I didn't mean it.. I won't do it again! I promise!"

"Hey.. Relax. I'm not gonna punish you or anything. In fact, I should be apologizing. You remember those lab experiments back then right?" I nodded slowly. "Well.. There's a reason for those ZAC." She sighed. "You see.. when we found you, we believed that you would be a weapon like Atomic Man. Everyone talked of how you would change the world, but only as a tool. They would test your capabilities to the very limit, and you would always get so angry.. 'It's a monster!' they said. 'There was no way we could control you!' Heh. Oh how those times are past."

"And then.. you saved me right?

"Uh.. Yeah.. we saved you, but it's not over.. You see ZAC.. we're still being hunted down. Those bad men. Those people still want you and they still see you as a weapon. They still see you as a monster like Atomic Man.. " I looked down at my own green hands. "but I know who you are. I've seen the stuff you've been doing. Rescuing those poor kids last week. Leaving an impact on the sidewalk and knocking the bully unconscious?"

"Wait you knew!? Oh no.. Please don't tell dad about this! Please!"

"I won't. Listen. You did what you thought was right.."

"He wouldn't stop making fun of that kid.. He would just keep punching him.. degrading him.."

"I know.. I know how much it would frustrate us, but it always reminds me how much of a hero you really are. How much more of a hero you could be. " She leaned down and revealed a bag. She put a hand inside and brought out a small poster of Atomic Man's face seeming looking at the horizon with his serious look. "I brought you an early Snowdown gift. I thought you would like it. We can hang it above the bed."

After the deed was done, I look at the hopeful Atomic Man gaze optimistically above me, hopeful for change. "Remember.. you may still be hunted down. People may still see you as a weapon, but I see a superhero. Me and your father will always see you as a super hero. Never forget that." she smiled before leaving. "Just.. make sure you clean up your messes. We don't want to leave tracks don't we?" I nod my head no. "Good. Good night ZAC. I love you."

"I love you too Mom." The lights went off and I remember laying down on the bed thinking of what she said. I changed my position so I could get a good view of the poster and gazed at it all night, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

* * *

I come back to my own room. So much has changed since I was gone. All of my metal sculptures were gone. Same goes to my bed and the furniture. I heard they condemned the whole neighborhood due to the "green goop monster" trying to fix all of the buildings he destroyed. Now everything was abandoned. It hurt to see no one in these lively sump houses anymore, but that just makes the place even better for me. I walk around the room and looked at where the Atomic Man poster used to be. I stretched my hand and feel where it once was. The poster was gone like everything else in his childhood. To think everything changed after 1 year. My grip of the wall tightens as I felt this hole inside me grow bigger and bigger. How everything felt so cold to me now. How it always feels like something is missing.

I place the black bag of metal pipes down and begin making the toys for my delivery. I took one metal plate and began folding it with my large, heated hands. I can make people happy. I can be the hero that my parents saw, and maybe if I showed that to them..

I finished the first of many toys and never stopped working.


	6. The Second Ghost

As we continue on in this trek through the blizzard of soot, leaving the empty lair of the past behind, I feel the grip of the ghost slowly disappear as I found another bright light in front of me. It seems similar to the one I saw at the commercia, and I wondered what it would entail. What scene would the ghost pick this time? Can't be good if they wish to torture me. I hear the rat's scream again. Oh how he screamed. "What did you give me sprit?" I ask. "What did you give me that I should be thankful for.. Should I be thankful for the surface dwellers' meddling in my plans? Should I be thankful for my lair being destroyed!? Tell me, what!?"

There was no verbal response. The light in the distance seemed to be fading. "Hey! Answer me, spirit! Answer the sewer king's question!" My pace quickens as I catch up. The light approaches closer and closer in the pit of darkness. I could even here the faint sound of music. Violins and the vocals of humans. Accordions and percussion. I run and run and run until the soot was all behind me and I can make out shapes. The shadows of trash cans, the smell of tasteless surface food, and the source of the light, a single lamppost at the end of a dark alley. I look up at its glare in confusion as I approach it, keeping my figure hidden from the chance of a nearby human noticing me.

"Spirit! Ghost! Where am I?" I ask. I look back, but all I see is a dead end where the homeless slept and the cracks infested the pavement. I slowly camouflage my fur into my surroundings and begin my search for a possible manhole. How dare the spirit abandon me at such a dangerous place! He wanted me dead; there was no question. At least his folly was over. Now, I could go to more important matters: finding my only friend.

As I walk around, the surface becomes less and less appealing. I was never fan of the surface's obsession with light as if they needed it everywhere. On Snowdown day, they seem to embed every streetlight, every building, every home with bright decorations and inanimate poro statues. Not to mention that the music grows grating with the humans singing the same song. Snowdown day.. Snowdown day.. Snowdown day.. and I'm tired of it! Tired of the voices. Tired of the strings and instrumentals, yet it somehow gets louder and louder in this wretched surface dweller city the more I walk forward. How could anyone stand this? I tried to plug my ears. I tried to use those ear plugs that seem to drone out fireworks, but they were all useless. It kept echoing in my brain. Even after I found a manhole, I could still hear the music from the pavement above.

Eventually, I made my way to the next location: the Goopy One's previous home. As I move closer, the music slowly fades away, giving in to uncomfortable, inconsistent silence. The houses around me were all dark and, unlike the other sectors that I've passed, there was no lights or decorations or statues. I could hear the silent winds around me making the buildings groan and weep as they attack at their hastily mended wounds. They may look the same, but the doors weren't, the windows had no glass, and the familiar skittering of insects grow more apparent the deeper I went.

I went into the Goopy One's home to see all of the wallpaper drying up and all of the furniture taken away. I look at the fireplace where we once sat where it was all covered in soot. He took me here after he found out that I tried to ruin Snowdown last year. The Goopy One and I sat around here all night as his creators merely watched from a distance. I remember their cautious eyes petrifying me behind my back. I remember the male creator having a gun right next to his side and his hand sitting comfortably at the trigger every time I looked back. Every second I always sworn I heard it clicked. "Don't worry," the Goopy One would tell me as I jerk my head back. "He won't hurt you. As long as I'm here. He never seen you before.. He kinda reminds me of you sometimes honestly."

"Really..?" I murmur to myself in the darkness, sitting in the same exact spot and looked above where the pictures used to hang.

"Cares too much, honestly. I'm just glad he let me do this."

I look back and the chair wasn't there. He no longer lived. The illusion was gone. Where I once saw pictures of a happy family and the disgusting dead tree that stood tall, there's nothing now. It reminded me of the sewers with the house's loneliness except the screams that happened occurred years past. I look to the hallway and see a faint light in the distance, coming from a hatch that seemed to be blown open. I tip toe slowly down the stairs to not make a sound.

"Goopy One?" I ask as I trudge slowly. There was no response, but as I look into the hidden basement, I saw a small lantern with a certain blob building materials close to the wall to my left where his bed once stood. He was meticulously designing something with his heated hands. His products seemed oddly misshapen yet familiar like a human child's drawing. I approach closer and closer to see what he was planning. Was it against me? Was it against the surface dwellers? I see metal planes.. metal UFOs.. metal steam golems... these have to be weapons! Maybe he can control them with his mind.. I immediately try to grab for one, but my arms phase through. I look at my hand in disbelief before doing it again and again and again to no avail. "What.. what is this!?"

Then, the Goopy One finished the last weapon and placed it in the bag. He held it still before he looks down with a doubtful look. He finished all of the materials, but that wasn't the task he had. Could he even do it? Suddenly, I hear a faint sound of music behind me with a familiar tune. I mouth the lyrics.

"Snowdown day.."

The Goopy One looks up at the wall and grip the bag with purpose. "I can do this.." he says happily. "Yeah.. I can do this! Hope you guys are ready!" He hoisted the bag over his shoulder and ran through me. I step back in surprise, closing my eyes waiting to be hit by weight of an elephant, but I felt only a breeze. I opened to see the sole lantern sitting on the floor and the quiet music still playing. I turn around to the door and I only saw a woman. A woman floating in the air with her blue-yellow hair and her bright red dress floating about. Around her was a golden instrument with a holiday wreath and some stockings as if it's a surface dweller fireplace. With her delicate fingernails, the maven carefully strums the strings to finish out the snowdown's carol.

I point my crossbow at her. "Who are you?" I ask.

"I am the second of spirits. The one Snowdown's present. One that results from the past." she speaks in clean clarity within my head. She never moved her lips.

"What..." I said. "What did you do with your music..?"

"If we talk further, your friend would go further. I suggest we follow him. You don't expect to run after him.. don't you?"

I take the hand reluctantly, knowing I had no choice. She was responsible for this state, and this ghost.. there was no use arguing against them.

* * *

I jump from house to house. Going from pipe to pipe to leave my gifts for the children of the sector. In this day of Snowdown, most people were either sleeping or partying with alcohol and shimmer in their hands. It's perfect for me. I had no one stopping me at that point. For every house I went, I leave the hastily wrapped gift below the tree or in the stocking and slowly made my way out. As I skipped over the numerous gaps between the houses jubilantly, I always imagine each kid's reaction as I place them down. The child happily flying the plane as he makes engine noises. The thrill of imitating Blitzcrank's grab at random family members through his figurine. Maybe even some sword play-fighting, and I plan to witness each and every kid's reaction as much as possible. Imagining that happiness... it just brings back old memories. Always such a warm feeling.

As I approach the last house, I wrap the last gift up quickly, a metal gun with some soft paper balls inside for ammo. The house loomed over the neighborhood as it stood on the edge of the sector away from others. I remember in my weekly visits to the sector I used to live, there was a family that decided to move away from the vibrant community. I always remember my mom and dad always talking about the people around us and telling great stories. Why would anyone leave that behind?

I slowly sneak into the house with the wrapped toy gun. I went through the chimney and saw what seemed to be a stereotypical room with some lights, king poro statues, and a grand Snowdown tree. I look behind and see the stockings each labeled with a name. "Dad", "Mom", and "Michael". Guess I was right with the kid being an only child. I put the gun into his stocking and checked to see if the gift had the classic "From: Santa" on it.

Creak...

My eyes widen. I look back and see him. A middle aged man looking at me with a gun with a frightful and worried look. I raise my hands to show no harm and stepped back to the chimney. "Hey pal.." I said. "I didn't mean any harm.. I just wanted to give your son a gift. Just.. playing Santa."

"Santa doesn't exist.." he growls aggressively. "..and I know you're definitely not him." He fires the gun, scattering parts of my body on the floor. I hear everyone wake up.

"What's going on!?" the wife screams.

"Dad!?" the son shouts.

"Some... something's in our house! Don't know what he wants.. but he wants something! It's Zaun! He has to want something!"

The second shots fires as I climb to the rooftop through the chimney. I felt the shot almost hitting my face. I climbed and climbed. The third shot fired and I felt it pierce my back. Everything below me was spiraling into chaos as they scream and shout for my demise until.. I saw the sky. I felt the freedom of the air. I grab the ground below me and stretched my arms back. I release my legs and when the family finally got out, all they saw was a green comet flying away.

Smack!

I feel the pavement hit my face. I look up and saw the abandoned homes of my childhood. All abandoned because of me.. My hand dove into my body as I slowly grab the bullet within me and observed it. It was a large bullet. Something meant for, at the very least, fatal injury. I throw the bullet on the pavement and run back to the safety of my once living house. To them, I wasn't playing Santa; I was playing a criminal.. Thankfully no one saw me. Thankfully I didn't see their reactions.

* * *

I watch in horror through the window as the man tries to shoot the Goopy One in smithereens. I can hear their incessant shouting as they try to murder my once loyal subject. When he tried to jump out, I hear the door next to me unlock. A large male, a large female, and a small male come out, watching as he flew to his home. The male still had his gun cocked in the sky as if he could shoot from so far away.

"What was that, dad?" the small child asks.

"Check the kitchen! Martha check the safe! Now!"

The door slams and I was merely alone with the spirit..

"What was he doing spirit!? What was he doing.. This is exactly what I thought would happen!" She simply pointed to the window. As I walk towards it, she begins to play another song. Through the glass, I see the human boy look into a sock hanging from the fireplace, only finding the gun that the Goopy One made. He smiles with happiness until looking away from the sock to the kitchen, most likely in response to the other humans' stupid screaming. He hides the gift in his pouch and goes to my window and looks up at the sky with eyes full of happiness and hope, mouthing the words "Thank you".

I look back at the spirit. "That doesn't change anything.." I growl. "So he made a person happy.. He gets shot! But that's fine because his stupid surface dwellers are happy!" She didn't even look up. She was just playing the music as the boy looks up trying to see the Goopy One again.

"You.. What are you doing with your stupid music!" I shout aiming my crossbow for her. "The kid's house is happy that his house was invaded.. You make the Goopy One give stupid small weapons to everyone at the risk of his own life.. He gotten shot! How.. how are you making them do this.. this.. nonsense? Brainwashing them... Is Snowdown just about this? Stupidity? Give me my body back! MAKE ME REAL AGAIN!"

"My music lives in everyone Twitch.. This is just a day when my music is the loudest. The music exists outside of Snowdown." the maven slowly floats towards me. Her skin turned green and her feet began to touch the floor. The dress got ripped away as I saw the Goopy One appear right before my eyes. "It even exists within _you_.."

I step back. My hands shake. The music grows louder and louder... I couldn't hear anything! "No.. No! You're not the Goopy One! Stop this.. Stop this now! Get out of my head.. GET OUT!"

"Come on pal.." she imitates. "I'm your friend after all."

"No.. No! Get out.. Get out! Stop it!"

"Hey.. is something wrong? I just wanted people to be happy."

"Stop it! STOP IT WITH THIS MADNESS!" I life the crossbow. "HAUNT ME NO LONGER!" The trigger was fired. The arrow pierced the spirit's chest. Crack begin to form on his skin.

"And here I thought.. you could change buddy," she said in the voice of my best friend. She suddenly dissipates into snow and the music goes silent. The lights of the house grow dim, and I was left alone.


	7. The Last Ghost

I hear the low growl of the factory above me. I got up from the snow and see a big looming metal castle where the house once stood. All of its lights are on and I could hear the humming of the machines. In the air above, smoke and toxic clouds filled the air so much so that people who took the poor job are required to strap gas masks over their face. "Spirit?" I call out. "What is this..? Where am I? I.. I didn't mean to shoot you.. You wouldn't stop! I'm.. I'm still being judged.. right..?" There was no one dare of course. All of her dumb Snowdown music was gone. I looked at the snow in front and remembered that those were the maven's remains. I grab at the spot where she left me and felt its cold surface, still ever present and lingering on the ground, as a constant reminder of whom I rejected.

Suddenly the lights go off, one by one. Bells ring to signal the departure. I hear the marching of people leaving their prison as they go back to their homes in the safety of their homes to rest for the next session of torture. Their faces seemed wearied and tired of going through the same monotonous routine over and over again and their hands reach for the wrinkles as that could fix anything. The metal castle stood solemnly as it watched its slaves leave for the day as the remaining people within it shut off its lights and power and continue the ringing of the screaming bell. I witness this until the bell's last powerful sound faded, the bright lights vanquished, and the last person gone, leaving me alone with only a single lamppost shining my shadow across the snowy floor.

I look at shadow as it begins to enlarge onto the factory's cold metal walls and mutate to a creature with what seems to be large beard stretching to the bottom of his toes and a large dark robe. To his left are large metal claws and to his right is a large hook. He looks down at me with hatred and sadistic glee at the torture that he would love to bring to me with his glowing light blue eyes. "Are.. If the ghost of the past and the present has past, then are you the future?" I ask.

He continues to stare at me as he begins to point his hook downwards where it begins to bend with the floor, pointing to the city. "You... You want me to go there..?" I ask. "Where.. where am I?"

He said nothing, and continued to look down at me from his looming size, sending shivers down my spine. I follow his directions out of fear and caution, knowing that my actions with the second of these ghosts could lead to my death. I just needed to make this as quick as possible. Just follow directions and you'll see The Goopy One again and contain him for sure from the stupidity of the surface holidays.

As I walk to the green city, I begin to notice the absence of decorations. There's no more plant life on the streetlamps nor tribute to the grand king of poros. The groups of drunken, crazy men screaming the phrase "Snowdown" were now replaced with humans buzzing around, only concerned with their destination. The music was heavier than that of Snowdown with low keys and depressed tones, yet it still tries to be jubilant of the world. As I go through the crowd, I begin to feel claustrophobic of the people around me. I didn't want their surface-dweller..-ness to rub off on me. I decide to try and find a manhole to go through.. Maybe that would make the place more familiar as well. I don't know all of Zaun, but I do know all of the sewers, but every manhole I come across, there was always a person walking on it.

However, one place stayed the same. On the outskirts of this sector, I saw the same abandoned neighborhood that The Goopy One lived in. While every part of the city had people buzzing around, this one had no one. It's house were still one made of withering rocks about to give in. As I walk around this place, I begin to notice houses that have finally crumbled. Only half of the houses seem to have lived, but they only lived as zombies. I go into ZAC's house and found the wallpaper more decayed and the holes numerous. I go into the basement and found piles upon piles of newspapers cluttering in the room. On the wall where the poster used to reside is an old bulletin board with newspaper clippings. The clippings tell of a _"Mysterious Green Giant"_ or _"New Zaunite's Hope?"_ I sit down to gaze upon it and even some newspapers scattered around the floor. Not all of them speak well of my friend. Not with stuff like "Monster Infestation" nor "Disaster Maker". These surface dwellers.. why must they be so dense?

The door creaks open. I blend into my surroundings instinctively. I tip toe back to the shadows of the room. I see The Goopy One come back, but his face sad and angry with his entire body covered in debris. He sits down in front of the bulletin board and takes out glass shards one by one and throwing them too me. First there's one at my feet. Then there are five. Then there are 10 and 20 and 30. It never seemed to end. "I.. I can be a hero.." he tries to reassures himself. He looks at the board. "I... I... UGH!" Using all of his strength, he punches through it. He punches and punches. The clippings fall and the glass scatters. He's relentless on it, taking out all of his frustration until.. he sees one of the pictures on the floor. He stops his pursuit and grabs the picture. He looks at it once before pausing and all of the anger turns to despair. He leans against a stack of newspapers and begins to sob, holding the picture to his chest.

I approach carefully to him and tried to grab the pictures of heroism, but they all phase through. I tried to scream what he has done in the past for these miserable creatures, but my voice is just a breeze of air to him. I even tried to hug him, but we couldn't even touch each other. "Spirit!" I call out. "Let me talk to him.. Please.. He's delusional, but miserable. All he wanted was to make them happy, AND LOOK WHAT THEY DO! These surface dwellers don't know what to do with him.. They deserve to perish.. ALL OF TH-"

"BOOM!"

The ceiling rumbles above us as the old house finally crashes down to the rubble it was fated to be.

The stairs begin to creak rapidly as the soldiers begin to march. I take out my crossbow and pointed at the worthless humans above us before the room transformed around me. The decaying brown paint turned to metal gray. The light no longer stemmed from ZAC's lantern, but now.. facility lights above me.

* * *

"Spirit!? What did you do!? Where did you take us!?"

As usual, the spirit said nothing, but simply pointed behind me at the end of a hallway. The door only had a label: _"Containment Unit 17A"_ , yet what came out of the door is telling. It sounded cold, faint, and broken.

"On this Snowdown day," it sang. "Santa comes to town.. On this Snowdown.. there will never be a frown.."

"ZAC?" I ask in the darkness. I run up to the door, phasing through it, and witnessing the blob cramped in a glass container. His eyes are closed as he sang his Snowdown song. I approach carefully to it and touch the cold glass. As I placed my hand, the blob awakens and stares at me before seeing who disrupted his soft slumber.

"Twitch..?" he asks. He steps back in fear. "What.. what do you want with me..?"

"You.. you can see me..? You.. YOU CAN SEE ME!" I begin to cackle in delight at this prospect, jumping up and down in excitement.

"I.. I didn't forget how.. Heh. How.. how could I forget?" he grumbles. "What are you doing here this Snowdown..? What do you want from me?"

"I.. If I can talk to you.. I can help you! I can free you! And I can get you back to the sewers where you belong!"

"No.. NO! Get away from me!" ZAC jerks back in his container, moving further and further away from me, refusing to make eye contact.

"What? What are you talking about!" I shout, pressing my face on the glass.

"I don't want to be with you.. I don't want to be anywhere near you.. You're a criminal. A psychopath. A murderer. I want nothing to do with you nor your 'kingdom'!" ZAC huffs. "I'm tired of being a tool.. To you.. To everyone I've been with! I'm just a weapon.. I'm just a tool for you admit it! That's all I ever been to everyone.." ZAC sighs. He already cried all of his tears. "Maybe it's better that way.. I just want people to be happy.."

I pause, trying to recollect my thoughts. "Do.. do you ever see them happy?" I ask. "I know you have.. an obsession with watching humans being happy.."

"No.. Not here.. All I see is pain.. torture.. The people I've killed... From the people I let you kill to the ones I've killed in here... I just want to leave, but I know what happens.." ZAC pauses. "Get out..." ZAC growls. "Get out.. please. STOP HAUNTING ME!"

I pause slowly, flinching at my friend's harsh words. He never used those before. Was I like them..? "But.. you do make people happy.. What about your creators?" I ask. That has to be the picture he held, or at least some semblance of it. "You always told me they sacrificed their life for you, because they wanted you free, and you always loved bringing up stories about them. Your mom's cooking.. Your dad's love of his stupid human weapon.. A gun... Those creators must be glad to have you were they not? And.. what about me.. I.. I didn't have anyone... Goopy One.. I needed you!"

"Stop. Stop lying!" he shouts, turning his face on to me with anger. He begins to rub his eyes and breath heavily. "Stop lying to yourself Zac.. Stop it.. It only makes it worse.. Twitch died... sob. Twitch's gone." It was as if he stopped talking to me. "He would never act like this anyway. I was just a spy to him ZAC.. You're always going to be a weapon.. Nothing more! Just.. accept it. You're better off as a weapon. Accept it, and you'll be fine ZAC.." I pause, unable to say anything. Suddenly the alarms goes off. The lights go dark except a large red light on the ceiling blinking and blinking. There's a breach. My time may run short.

I bang on the glass. "Hey! Listen to me!" I shout. He stays silent, turning his back to me. "Sigh. Fine.. if you don't forgive me, or believe me, but know this! Twitch knows very well of what you're capable of. You're an awful spy, Zac. You never catch invaders well or give me valuable information. You just dream about the surface. You would do anything to make them happy. You would do anything to protect them. You did it to me and you did it to your creators Zac. You make mistakes? So what!? I mess up all the time. You don't see me giving up on my sentience potions.. Heh. And if I know anything about my Goopy One.. he's always difficult to control. You should be the same!" He looks back only slightly, and looks down in consideration. "Twitch doesn't care what anyone thinks or even you.. You may not even forgive me for anything, but you must listen! You're messy. Uncontrollable. Sometimes even delusional.. but if a hero is someone that makes people happy, then you're a hero to me.."

"Twitch..." he says, turning towards me.

Suddenly the door behind me slams open and the room around me fades from metal walls to stone. My hand now rest on free air and hangs aimlessly on my body. I pause to catch my breath. I didn't even get to say goodbye...

* * *

"Spirit.. what happened to me..? Where was I!? Zac told me I died.. So.. what happened..?"

The spirit simply points with his metal claw to the end of the tunnel where the opening of the pipe lay. I trudge slowly to it, not feeling the need to rush. Eventually from outside the pipe, I saw the edge of Zaun from a cliff. As I step forward, I feel a piece of paper underneath me. It was dusty and the ink was gone on most of it, but the headline was relatively clear: "THE PLAGUE RAT FOUND IN COMMERCIA!"

"Found.. in.. Commercia.." Twitch repeated. Twitch looked to his shadow. "Spirit? Tell me.. when do I die...?" The shadow's hook begins to glow as he makes a swift slash on the pavement, crumbling the floor beneath me. "AAAH!" I shout as I fall. My hands dug deep into the rock in desperation. As I hung on, I hear the bell.

"Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding!"

7 bells. It.. It can't be! I look behind me as I hang on the cliff and saw the dreaded sun rise. I knew exactly how I was gonna die.

"WAKE ME UP! WAKE ME UP!" I shout to the spirit who now looks down on me from the edge.

"I promise to change.. I promise to never let my friend down! Please.. Let me change! Wake me up! Before they come to me.." The bell begins to repeat its alarm.. Every time it rang, the rocks crumble.

DING! A rock hit my shoulder. DONG! A shard hit my nose. DING! "Let me change.." DONG! "LET ME CHANGE!" DING! The rock hit my hand and I couldn't hold on. The sun rises higher... DONG! I feel the air beneath me hitting my face as I begin to brace for impact. DING! As my head began to hit the salty water of the ocean, it transformed into concrete.


	8. Snowdown Day

The bell rings, echoing in my hollow ears. I close my eyes bracing for impact, but I felt none. I didn't feel my face slamming into water nor my fragile bones shattering from the rocks underneath. I didn't even hear a single splash of water. Just the bell ringing. I jolt up, haunted by the bell and see that I was laying at the gates of the commercia where I left off. All of the stores are still closed and the flamboyant decorations of plant life, poros, and ribbons are all there. It's all the same as before I embarked on the spirit's judgment, except all of the soot that surrounded the area's gone. The clock in front of me rang proudly with its arms pointing at 7 and 0. "They woke me up.." I cackle. "Hehe.. They woke me up.. The spirits! They give me a chance!" I begin to dance, to skip, to sing to the world that I escaped death. Thankfully no one was there when I shouted to the world of my joy as my torture is finally over, but I don't think it would be empty for long.

I blend in with my shadows and walk to the sewers, the comfort of my old home. The fresh humidity! The beautiful stench! I thought I never see those again.. Oh how I missed the rust of my pipes and the rushing of the toxins. I run and skip as I mutter to myself what to do on this glorious day. On this gloriously stupid day! "ZAC!" I call out, but he wasn't there. When I see the large pipe that acted as the entrance to my lair, I saw the beige tarp that once divided us. I take the tarp with my clawed hands and drag it down from its tape, ripping parts of it to shreds and see the empty lair as it always been. The green lantern in the middle with 2 sides of the room. One side was a complete mess with equipment, glass, bones, and various human knickknacks while the other's empty. Nothing but a pile of trash bags that once acted as a bed. There was once posters and various zaunite blueprints around here, but none are present now. "I'm back in the present.." I mumble. I place the crossbow down on the desk over at my side of the room. I feel my hands shake as I let go of the handle as it yearns for me to keep it on my back forever and always. I look at the roaches and bugs at the cracks of the walls.

"You!" I command to them. "Watch the lair for me, and alert me if anyone comes near it, and tell the others!" The bugs quickly skittered on their way with the orders of their king. I sigh. "If Twitch were to do this, he has to do it right." I leave the room with my weapon inside.

I slowly climb up the manhole to the abandoned neighborhood with its fragile houses still standing and withering away. I press a sigh in relief as their numbers are much more than that of the future. I run quietly to his abandoned home, making sure I wouldn't be seen. I walk through the abandoned living room and the decayed wallpaper and see the same faint light coming from the basement as did last night. I walk down, ensuring that my footsteps wouldn't make the wooden steps croak under pressure. As I go step by step, I see the faint light with the blob leaning to the wall, sleeping. He curls up on the floor, open to any attack, but I never brought a weapon. I simply reveal myself as he begins to breath in the rancid stench of his old home. His eyes open and he tried to sit straight as he backs away from me.

"Twitch.. What do you want?" he asks me. "I'm not coming with you, buddy. I'm not staying in your sewers.."

"I.. I know.." I mumble. "I.. was just here to ask on how your human delivery thing was going along.."

"You.. you know about that?"

"Yeah... Where you bring small weird weapons to the young ones?"

"They're.. they're not weapons Twitch."

"Well, what are they? They look like weapons to me.."

"Well.. they're supposed to be gifts, y'know? Toys. Things that those kids play with and smile. Heh. I don't think you would understand."

"Hmph. You're right about that. I could never understand why anyone would like stupid surface dwellers being happy. Did you see any of those smiles you talked about?"

ZAC turns away from me. "I don't think I'm gonna see a smile that Snowdown day.. Or at least, from those I gave toys to." He begins to hold the bullet that pierced his body and begins playing with it in his hands. I watch pitifully as he did so, keeping my distance.

"Those that shoot you, they're idiots. They don't know anything." He kept twirling the bullet around his fingers. I begin to think. Suddenly, I got an idea and grab his arms. "Goopy One! You have to come with me! This is som-"

"Hey!" ZAC shouts as he jerks his arm away from my grip, throwing me towards him. I'm quickly yanked out of ZAC's goop and held up in the air. "I already told you I'm not coming with you. I'm just.. I'm just sick and tired of you, pal. Sorry about that. Now.. will you please stop asking."

"I.. I do know that!" I shout angrily. "I'm not stupid! I just want to show you something. Show you.. a gift! Yes.. yes.. A gift! You surface dwellers gives gifts to each other on this stupid holiday, right? And you can't deny a grand gift from the sewer king!"

ZAC quickly raises an eyebrow. "Uh... yeah?" he answers suspiciously. I see his curiosity peaking. "What.. what gift do you have in mind?"

We slowly trudge through as the rat drags my hand through the zaunite soot on the ground. I begin to look at the wretched rat as to what he was about to show me. Whatever it is, it isn't gonna change my mind. I hated living in the sewers. I hated living with a psychopathic murderer. I hated seeing people die where I could've saved them. I hated being forced into captivity. I wasn't his slave.. His tool. I wasn't anyone's weapon. I just need to improve, but I'm not gonna improve with him around.

I look to the sky and saw what he's bringing me to. It's the lone sump house on the outskirts of the sector, standing lone and tall with no one around. I instinctively clutch my chest in response to its image. "Twitch.. Please.." I growl. I knew this was some stupid excuse to show the evils of the surface again. "I don't want to be here. If you're saying people are dumb, I'm not listening."

"It's not!" he shouts.

"Then why are we hear, Twitch!? Why are we here?" I huff. "This is dangerous Twitch.. Even for you! You don't want to be found don't you?"

"No! No.. You must listen! This is a gift from me.. You have to listen to Twitch, Zac.."

I pause for a bit. "ZAC?" I ask. "Heh. That's the first time I heard my name from you of all people."

Twitch glances at me. "Yeah.. Zac... I think it's better than Goopy One.. I like it. Has a nice ring to it. Hehe. Maybe I should start using it more." He begins to look at the floor now. "Look, I'm sorry for everything, Zac. I'm sorry for killing and putting you in bottles. I just.. I just didn't want to lose my best subject and my only friend." Twitch shows an empty hand. "I know I screwed up and I know you're more than a slave or all of my roaches combined, but if you won't forgive me, would you at least take my tribute?"

I look at Twitch carefully. What.. what happened to him? I look at his clawed hand before taking it. "Well, this better be worth my time pal. I trust you this once, but if anything goes wrong. It's gonna get messy for you.."

"I swear it won't! Now come!" Twitch cackles as he takes my hand and continues to drag me further and further until finally we touch the house's walls. Behind them I hear muttering and talking. I could imagine them calling the police or warning everyone about the big bad green monster that's present in the sector. I begin to have my doubts. He never really answered my question, but he still beckoned me to the windows. "Come.. Come!" he shouts, blending in with his surroundings. "I think you'll like this.."

"Twitch.. I already know what I've done. I already have the bullet; is this really necessar-"

"AH! Hahah! You got me!" the voices shout inside.

"Huh?" I ask as I walk to the window. Inside, I see the dad hiding behind the couch as his son points the gun at him. The 2 smile as they play their game of fighting. It wasn't until the son was creeping up to him that he made his attack, carrying the boy up to his shoulders. "Now I got ya!" he shouts as the boy laughs, squirming around while the mother cooks a Snowdown dinner whose stench rises to Piltover from its sole pipe.

"I.. I thought they all hated me. I thought they would be scared."

"Hmph! They should be.. but humans are stupid, Zac. I think you should know that, and this holiday is the stupidest one of them all," He sits in the snow and continues to watch the play-fighting between the two. "But.. their stupidity is charming in a way don't you think?"

"Yeah.. It always makes me happy to see them laugh and smile. It's like I'm in it! Heh. It's weird how people can be so happy when they have nothing."

"Yeah.." He continues to watch the kid play with the gun until they were called for a grand Snowdown breakfast. He begins to chuckle. "Hehe.. to think this comes from a harmless metal gun. I bet every family you brought a harmless weapon to is like this." He turns to me and presents me with a small book. One of his stories. "Here.." he says to me. "Take it. Something to remember me by on your travels. I just hope we meet again. You were always awful as a subject honestly, despite what I say. I hope you would be great as a hero to these worthless humans. It's the one where I had us slay the dragons that wanted to destroy the kingdom."

"Is it when you shot it in the eye while.."

"You pinned it down! Yes! Hehe! Hah! And we feasted on its remains the entire night!

"And I ate so much that I became giant? The size of a skyscraper?"

"YES! Hahah! I'm surprised you know it so well.." Twitch pauses. "Well.. I guess I better get going. You should see the faces when they see the gift! That must be good for you! I'll just be in my lair if you need me.."

"Wait!" I call out. "I.. I.. I don't want to JUST watch people being happy. I just like imagine that I'm in there.. I want to be a part of it." I look at him and it was now my turn to present my present. I lend out my hand. "Do you want to be a part of it too?"

He looks at my hand and smiles. "With my favorite subject, of course I do.." I place him on my shoulders as we march back to the sewers together, celebrating Snowdown together.


End file.
